If the Question is like "In which countries are Muslim minorities seen in a good light?"
My impulsive answers is; nowhere else but in India , India, India !!!! Is that really so check it out!
Majority Minority Majority Minority, G Major, A Minor B sharp G ……… Hindu, Hindu, Hindu….that is…..
These looks like Majoritarian sound bites in a Minority Orchestra!!!!
Limited studies & research on Islamic jurisprudence reveals that there are two political concepts prevalent from the time of Prophet Mohammed, that Dar Al Islam is the land where Islam is in majority and power & don't naturally require vigorous propagation of Islam & Dar al Harb is the land (Dar means abode) which is the place of jihad (Islamic duty imposed on adherents), where Islamic followers are in minority. Here followers of Mohammed are supposed to spread Islam through Jihad. For more read Britanica article.
Dār al-Islam | Islamic political ideology
Now behaviour of Muslims will depend upon the status of theirs in the land, whether Dar Al Islam or Dar al Harab. Wherever Islam is in minority, they are supposed to engage in Jihad in accordance with religious injunctions.
Therefore it would matter whether those minority Islam practitioners are following ideological dictates or not. If majority of the Muslims in a land not governed by Islam, where the Muslims are in minority choose to remain peaceful, then it's an exception.
And this exception may be India, Australia, New Zealand etc., in order for Muslims being seen in good light, low profile & peacefulness needs to be demonstrated.
Dawoodi Bohra Shia Community of Mumbai is one such example, who are seen in very good lights in Mumbai. They have displayed extraordinary calm & composure since the time they arrived from Yemen. Contributed greatly to Mumbai in particular, their Saifee Hospital is state of the Art & has great facilities. (Pic below)
Indian Muslims are therefore different & not mirror image the rest of the World. Despite massive provocation there remains minimal radicalism.
Any Civilisation, culture, tradition, customs, religion is subject to the evils of distortion. Good & evil coexist side by side, it depends how & to what extent one gets influenced by either of them. To the ordinary understanding of the susceptible masses, maintaining equanimity & even mindedness is extremely difficult.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita says quite appropriately about this phenomenon :
Srimad #BhagavadGita
Happiness & Distress, heat & Cold etc., as experienced by senses are TEMPORARY in nature: learn to TOLERATE them🌷🙏🌹🚩🇮🇳🏵️💐🌺
ShankhyoYoga Ch2V14#FridayFeelinghttps://t.co/G8IJFoTMhI pic.twitter.com/f32wOvfdg1
— சாந்தனுChakravarty 🇮🇳 (@Shantanu_KP786) August 24, 2018
Like this Sati, Caste System, Triple Talaq, Nikah Halala, Polygamy, Confessions by the subjects to the Bishops in Churches; believe are all examples of distortion of the societal customs, manipulation by the powerful for their own advantage & in the process victimising someone innocent, is habitual recurrent occurance.
Building up of narratives is considered to be a kind of an art in these days of yellow journalism, to which social media is equally a great formidable obstacle (পথের কাঁটা) but!!!!
History is the witness to the fact that, when something happened & something else was propagated for public consumption. The truth was a secret & remains to be one, the version suitable to the speaker or propagators or प्रचारक is always spoken & hardly otherwise. Rarely any examples of self incriminating versions have succeeded in coming out in the open. No one easily admits to its own gulit.
So whenever any information comes out in the public domain then assume that the matter suits somebody powerful & therefore it has made its way into the open, otherwise there are host of forces who are constantly acting to suppress the truth!
The same trend continues even today although with the advent of Internet, BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, WhatsUp, Facebook, Twitter, Google etc., it has become far more easier to dupe gullible innocent masses, on the contrary it has become equally difficult a task to spread fake news & build a false narrative for the informed & intelligent class. But what ultimately matters is who is minority & who is majority and how one's evil purpose needs to be served. If majority is susceptible then misguide them with fake narrative & stay cool.
That's why one would find that the majority is poor & illiterate and only miniscule of the population has got access to money, quality education in Indian context. That's why all the Governments in the past tried to ensure that minority remain elites & they stay indifferent to the affairs of the state. Creation of disparity is key to political success as the remaining gullible population is available in abundance for easy manipulation.
Muslims claim minority status in India but if we closely examine the ground situation, facts & figures, then we come across the following :-
Islam is ranked second most practiced religion the World over, only second to Christianity.
List of religious populations - Wikipedia
Islam is in overwhelming majority in at least 24 countries in the World & they are more than majority in 57 countries.
Organisation of Islamic countries has 57 members out of which all except Palestine, rest are the members of the United Nations(UN) with a voting power each.
Saudi Arabia heads the Human rights council (UNHRC) elected by 127 members of the UN. The very powerful body as far as the work of raising voices against any kind of discrimination & violation of human rights are concerned !
Islam - Wikipedia
So Islam is overwhelmingly majority community; that is an established fact across the globe & capable of exerting colossal political pressure even in an international level.
Islam itself is a divine idea but how far it can avoid the wreath of evil forces, how far it can resist the forces of manipulation, how far it can prevent destruction within itself is a matter of evaluation & research.
Today World has 7.6 Billion human beings & Islam constitutes around 2 billion which means that the Islamic adherents are 26.3% of the Earth. So it can be easily assumed that Muslims constitute anything 25 to 30% of the population in total.
Universal declaration of Human Rights is applicable for those class who are persecuted, suppressed, oppressed, helpless, destitute, disabled, handicapped but certainly not for those who can exert Global pressure.
The concept of minority protection arises when the majority community is truly dominant not only by numbers but also in terms of political prowess, on the other hand minorities are unable to exercise ordinary human rights, unable to resist oppression, unable to resist discrimination, unable to offer resistance to biasness, unable to confront arbitrariness, unable to defend lives & faces ethnic cleansing for not being offered adequate representation or close to proportional representation in the political hierarchy & therefore faces horror of being extinct or decimation or being rendered powerless as a consequence!!!
But ask any Indian Muslim, who are there for centuries, none would like to leave the mother India for reasons of more comfort in these matters of social, political & democratic rights that they enjoy in India. There are no exodus of Muslims of India to the other Muslim nations & on the contrary the reverse is true that Muslims from neighbouring countries of Bangladesh & Pakistan are relocating to India for their needs of economic prosperity. Assam agitation is deep rooted on this very cause of large scale infiltration across the international borders.
Today Assam has got 9 out of 30 districts Muslim Majority, West Bengal 3 out of 23 and Kerala 1 district is confirmed Muslim majority, entire Kashmir valley is Muslim majority. And if indications on the population growth are to be predicted then the district wise trend is Assam, West Bengal, Kerala & many more districts elsewhere in the country are in the verge of becoming Muslim majority!
However, solely Muslim majority phenomenon is actually not core issue. Indian Muslims are mostly converted & generally they are peace loving, especially if you closely observe the records, the Dawoodi Bohra Shia Community, it has displayed exemplary mass behaviour & there are many other Muslims from other castes & strata who have contributed to the nation building.
India has produced great Muslims in the gigantic persona of APJ Abdul Kalam who went on to make from the deadliest weapons of nuclear missiles to extra ordinary space vehicles, thereby provided immense defense capabilities to India. He was a bachelor, vegetarian, memorised all 722 verses of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, lead a simple ordinary life, left only intellectual assets behind & nothing materialistic in nature. He was the symbol of true secularism that India wishes to profess.
Yet another celebrated Indian is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, despite having Arabic ancestry & being a devout Muslim he refrained from joining Jinnah’s Pakistan but preferred to become the first education minister of independent India in Pandit Nehru's cabinet, he gave IITs; which every Indians today are proud of & is a matter of reverence! Neighbors envy, Owners pride!!!
In the Bollywood the celebrity list is dominated by the leading actors many of whom are practicing Muslims. Shahrukh Khan is a non practicing, Salman Khan celebrates Holi, Ganpati & Dewali at home, Amir Khan is twice married but both times to Hindu girls, Saif Ali Khan is still a Nawab, irrespective of whether Gov't of India acknowledges or not; married to Amrita Singh & now Kareena Kapoor, both belonging to Hindu community. So religion is a non issue in Bollywood.
Traditionally in India since 18th century, there has been peace, amity, brotherhood amongst all religious communities. Religion is not a core issue here & actually as more & more days pass by it would become a thing of the past. Religion shall fail to evoke sensibility & translate into votes per se!!!!
However, due to evil actions of the few who are in minority, people view Muslim community with some non benevolent sense; this may be improper generalisation. Like in Pakistan tax compliance is at the minimum level & current PM Imran Khan is hell nerved for it & struggling [2] It doesn't mean Muslims avoid tax!!!
So the crux of the issue here is, minority action of the few in the Muslim community is attracting ire of the masses, that may be a kind of biased judgmental attitude of the majority. But in certain cases this is inevitable, unavoidable, irrestible for susceptible masses!!!
On the other hand if you research & have a close look at the Parsis as what is their track record being only 50 to 60 thousand in numbers in India. You may discover the following astonishing facts.
Parsis are considered as lights of India, although they are not the original inhabitants of India & was persecuted & driven out of Iran(Persia) but Parsis have adopted Indian culture & regarded it as their home. Parsis displayed immense patriotism for mother India & their contributions are enormous.
Dr Dinshaw Vachha was one of the founders of Indian National Congress, Dr Dadabhai Naraoji had greatly contributed in India's freedom struggle & inspired many including Bal Gangadhar Tilak & Bapu Mohandas.
In the Judiciary Nani A Palkiwala, Soli Sorabjee, Fali Nariman are celebrated jurists, India is fortunate to have them.
In the field of Engineering Khursheed Nariman has a major contribution & he gave India the Nariman point in Mumbai, which is one of the greatest tourist attraction & offers one of the most expensive commercial property in the World.
In the field of India's defense establishment the country has produced one of the greatest patriot & soldier in the form of Field Marshall Sam Jamshedji Manekshaw, who comprehensively defeated the enemies & created a new independent nation of Bangladesh in 1971.
As far as India's industrial revolution is concerned; Parsis are the major contributors, Sir Jamshedji Tata has given India's first modern steel plant & the legacy is uninterrupted through Sir JRD Tata & radiant lights being carried by his excellency Ratan Tata. Shapoorji Pallonji group is India's numerous uno organisation in the field of Engineering & Construction today as per the latest Construction India ratings of 2018. Shapoorji group is 3rd generation Parsi entrepreneurs of India. Tatas & Shapoorji's are amongst the few organisations in India which have least debt from the public sector banks & mostly run on debt free principle. They have affected to the least on to the major financial banking crisis of the recent past (Nirav Modi fame) & major constributor in the fiscal discipline of India as an exception & in an exemplary manner.
But surprisingly if you closely observe Parsis have no political representation in India's Governance organs, no MPs, no MLAs and if you go further they don't seek doles, grants, charities from the Gov't of India. On the other hand Parsis are one of the major tax payers, very complaint law abiding Citizens, if you approach them with clean hands they might financially help you instead. There is a common practice prevalent amongst the Parsi community to provide for an family accomodation to the newly married Parsi couples in south Mumbai; one of the costliest residences in Asia.
In one of the startling revealations it was found that the Hindus are minority in eight Indian states & don't enjoy minority status & previleges. These states are Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Lakshadweep & Mizoram. This is a serious violation of fundamental rights & this practice is ultra vires to the Constitution of India. It speaks adversely to India's minority policy.
India therefore although claimant to the fact of offering the best comfort to its minorities including Hindus, But NO correction previleges to all except Hindus. Yes Hindus can claim oppression, ethnic cleansing from Kashmir valley, persons non grata as minorities in no less than 8 Indian states, a second class citizen in the rest. That's the ultimate result & culmination of Hindu decimation due to Vote Bank Politics!!!!!
Therefore, all these majority & minority songs that are played out of tune, spoiling the national orchestra & indeed disturbing the social fabric of the nation. Only thing it is contributing to is promotion of thevVote Bank politics, which is in a way extremely damaging to the polity & Governance of the country.
This is the reason being as to why Rohingya Muslim refugees of Myanmar is being tacitly accomodated in Jammu, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, by exerting international pressure, who are otherwise actually being deported by their own Saudi Arabia; this misplaced attempt to alter demographics is a serious trend needs urgent reversal. So it boils down to even Rohingya Muslims feel India is a better place, even though the big brother Muslim country Saudi Arabia deports them.
In order that India progress, it's not that a particular community that has to outnumber the other, since minority, secularism, democracy are all subject to gross misuse, therefore this number game democracy becomes unsustainable because of its intrinsic flaws & course correction is inevitable by the coming generation if not now or later.
Comparative studies reveal that today :
Muslims are around 200 million which is 15.38%
Chritians are 30 Million which works out to 2.3% &
Parsis are 0.006% of India's population,
only tussle is taking place with Muslims due to their substantial political power but equally social backwardness, whereas Christians, Zorastrians, Jains, Sikhs have no major issues.
Actually LGBTi population is half a million in India & since they don't make a formidable vote bank, no one is advocating effectively about their interests and rights, number being 0.04% of 1.3 Billion Indians.
United Nations in its Universal declaration of human rights has not prescribed any threshold figure for quantitative determination of minorities not has constitution of India has a definitive provisions for it, only thing both agrees that the group wishing to receive minority previleges should be incapacitated, disabled or disadvantaged & not otherwise!!!
Therefore it's not the quantity but quality that matters, as to determine who is indeed eligible to receive minority previleges!!! Isn't it???
Hence, India will certainly insist upon producing quality citizens & shall get rid of quantity concept sooner or later. Benefits & previleges should necessarily be on the basis of quality & not quantity, underprivileged status should be judged on the basis of individual incapacities rather than collective incapability.
Therefore, quantative judgement of minorities & not a qualitative judgement are all absolutely inappropriate, suicidal, flawed, abject, a predujiced notion & it calls for extremely urgent reformative process to be initiated in the right earnest.
Hope you have understood the position of Hindu minorities in India itself, what is it other than gross injustice & travesty of justice???
References & Footnotes:
[1] Saudi Arabia grilled over human rights record at UN council
[2] Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s new problem: How to get people to pay taxes 208 Million Pakistanis
[3] Hindus are a minority in these 8 Indian states
Photo Credit: Google
